Hi All,

I'm just starting to test a migration of a mod_perl app from a debian woody (perl 5.6.1, mod_perl 1.26-3.0) to debian sarge (perl 5.8.4, mod_perl 1.29.0.3) and I'm running into a problem with a package level my() variable accessed in package level subs. See below for quick example. This is code I haven't had to touch for 18 months :)

I've had to change the my() to our() but I don't understand why - it feels like I'm missing something very obvious :)

I've had a look at all the perl*delta pod and the changelog for mod_perl and didn't see anything obvious so I'm asking here - your wisdom is appreciated!

The following is part of a simple user details cache module used in an apache auth handler (abbreviated so don't try too hard to syntax check it): 

package My::Apache::UserCache;
use strict;
use My::User;
require Exporter;
our @ISA = qw(Exporter);
our @EXPORT_OK = qw(get_pass get_groups);
use constant CACHE_TIMEOUT => 60; # seconds

my %cache = ();

sub fill_cache {
  my $user = shift;
  my $now = time;
  my ($password,@groups) = My::User->get_pw_groups( $user ); # hits DB
  ... other checks ...
  $cache{$user} = { timestamp => $now,
                    password => $password,
                    groups => [@groups] };
}
sub get_pass {
  my $user = shift;
  my $now = time;
  return $cache{$user}->{password} if $exists_and_hasnt_timed_out_etc;
  return undef unless fill_cache( $user );
  $cache{$user}->{password}; # get direct from cache
}
sub get_groups {
  # similar to above
}

[download]
Example of code that calls it in Authen/Authz handlers: 
package My::Apache::UserAuthen;
use strict;
use My::Apache::UserCache qw(get_pass);
...
sub handler {
  ... setup; get apache basic auth credentials; etc ...
  my $reason = authenticate( $user, $user_pw );
  ... log etc on failure..
  return OK;
}

sub authenticate {
  my ($user, $user_pw) = @_;
  ...
  my $db_pass = get_pass( $user );
  ... return messages based on match/mismatch/etc ...
  return '';
}

[download]

Offline using the cache module directly things work fine either way, things work fine in a single page request under 5.6.1/1.26 but the cache variable never keeps values when using my() with a single page request under 5.8.4/1.29. Like I said, changing to it to our() works but why didn't it before?

I use this method for package variables a lot so I'd really like not to have to update and test tens of modules along the way. What, if anything, should I be using instead?

I look forward to hearing peoples suggestions, fixes and opinions - thanks all.

Cheers,

Andrew

In reply to package scoped my() variable in module under mod_perl 5.6 vs 5.8 by njaph

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